Benigno Aquino warns West must not attempt to appease China as it did Hitler
but presidential palace later says comments were not intended to 'offend'
Beijing

The West’s failure to confront China over its increasingly vocal territorial ambitions is similar to the disastrous appeasement of Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s, the Philippine president has claimed.

In comments that are likely to receive a furious reception in Beijing, Benigno Aquino, the Philippine leader, told The New York Times he believed it was time for the West to tell China “enough is enough.”

The Philippines is one of several Asian countries - including Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia - that is locked into acrimonious territorial disputes with Beijing.

Manila disputes the sovereignty of a series of shoals, islands and waters in an area it calls the West Philippine Sea and Beijing calls the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, the long-running dispute between Japan and China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea exploded again last November after China declared a controversial "air defence identification zone" that included the skies over that area.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Aquino compared his country’s plight to that of Czechoslovakia in the lead up to World War II.

In 1938, part of Czechoslovakia was handed to Hitler after he assured Neville Chamberlain, Britain’s prime minister, that his troops would not invade the rest of the country in exchange for the Sudetenland.

However, having taken control of the Sudetenland, Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939.

“If we say yes to something we believe is wrong now, what guarantee is there that the wrong will not be further exacerbated down the line?” the Philippine president said during a 90-minute interview with the American newspaper.

“At what point do you say, ‘Enough is enough?’ Well, the world has to say it. Remember that the Sudetenland was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War II,” added Mr Aquino, who was elected in 2010.

Apparently referring to China, the president later said: “You may have the might but that does not necessarily make you right.”

On Wednesday, Manila sought to play down the president’s comments, claiming he had not intended to “offend” Beijing or “add fuel to the fire”.

“Aquino was not directly comparing China to Hitler, who was infamous for causing the deaths of millions of people,” Herminio Coloma, the presidential communications secretary, was quoted as saying by the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper.

“The President was merely answering a question with a historical fact,” Mr Coloma added.

Still, Mr Aquino’s comments reflect a growing nervousness and anger in parts of east and southeast Asia over what is seen as China’s increasing willingness to flex its rapidly growing military might.

Since the start of this year China and Japan have engaged in a new round of diplomatic sparring, with ambassadors from both countries borrowing from the work of J.K. Rowling to label their rival Asia’s “Voldemort”.

Tensions grew at January’s World Economic Forum in Davos when Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, reportedly said that the two countries were now in a “similar situation” to Britain and Germany on the eve of World War I.

Despite enjoying strong economic ties - as the two European powers did in the early 20th century - a catastrophic breakdown in relations was possible, Mr Abe hinted.

Beijing dismissed those comments as an attempt to hide “Japan’s history of aggression.”

China is currently in shutdown for its 7-day “Spring Festival” holidays and there was no immediate response from Beijing to Mr Aquino’s comments.